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I don’t know if it’s because of my desktop environment (Ubuntu 12.10, Gnome Shell 3.6) is so darn special or because Firefox 17 disabled a certain feature. But anyway, when I tried installing Net ID from SecMaker, better known as Telia e-legitimation, it would just fail. But I was able to find a workaround.

My symptoms: I followed the instructions from Telia / SecMaker and it semed OK. To finish the actual installation part, you’re supposed to browse to /etc/iid/pkcs11.html to let Firefox install Net ID as a local security device. However, that part simply doesn’t work. I got the message:

Installation status for Net iD pkcs#11 module is unknown, use buttons below to install or uninstall the module.

But the buttons Install / Uninstall didn’t actually do anything.

The problem: The whole point of surfing to /etc/iid/pksc11.html is so that a javascript can install Net ID as security device. Turns out that Firefox 17 have disabled access to the internal Firefox object that can manipulate the list of security devices unless the code executes inside a proper Firefox extension. In this case, the code executes inside a normal webpage so it simply won’t work.

The solution: It turns out that there’s another method to install Net ID as a security device and that is to do it manually. This is how.

1. Open Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced.

2. Select the Encryption tab

3. Click Security Devices. You should see something like the below (except that you won’t see “Net ID” in the tree view on the left hand side.

4. Click the Load button on the right hand side. Fill in the details. You want to name the module “Net ID” and give the path to the .so file to /usr/lib/libiid11p.so

5. Click OK. You should now see Net ID in the tree view on the left hand side and that’s our goal here, so, hooray!!!

Now, you have added the Net ID software to your computer and made it available in Firefox, so you installation can continue as described in the instructions from Teliea (or whatever ID provider you have).